by John Perrotto, Special for USA TODAY Sports

by John Perrotto, Special for USA TODAY Sports

DETROIT â?? It would have been understandable if frustration was the emotion of the evening in the Detroit Tigers' clubhouse Tuesday.

The Tigers got another standout performance from a starting pitcher in Game 3 as Justin Verlander allowed only one run and four hits in eight innings.

However, the Tigers trail 2-1 in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series after Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli hit a seventh-inning home run to give the Boston Red Sox a 1-0 victory in Game 3 at Comerica Park.

Verlander struck out 10 and walked one after Anibal Sanchez pitched six no-hit innings with 12 strikeouts in Game 1 and Max Scherzer gave one run in seven innings while striking out 13 in Game 2.

"Frustrated isn't the right word because you expect these kind of games in the postseason," Verlander said. "We've played three great games in this series. It's been two heavyweights going at it. If you don't like this series then you probably don't like baseball. We would have loved to won the game but you've got to give credit to the Red Sox, too."

In all, Tigers starters have yielded just two runs and six hits in 21 innings during the series for a sparkling 0.86 ERA to go along with 35 strikeouts.

Under normal circumstances, that would be enough for three straight wins. Instead, the Tigers trail in the series after John Lackey and three reliever combined on a six-hit shutout.

"Runs are stingy at this time of year," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "Our guys have pitched great but the Red Sox have pitched great, too."

Right fielder Torii Hunter said the Tigers are not dwelling on wasting so much fine pitching.

"You've got to have amnesia in this game," he said. "You have to forget about what has already happened and think about what is going to happen."

Verlander took a shutout into the seventh inning and threw Napoli, who had been 0-for-6 with six strikeouts in the series to that point, four straight sliders before giving up the home run on a fastball. Yet there was no second-guessing on the pitch selection.

"I didn't think he was seeing the fastball very well," Verlander said.

To that point, Verlander had pitched 21 scoreless innings in his three postseason starts, including blanking the Oakland Athletics for 15 innings in two starts during the American League Division Series.

Furthermore, Verlander did not allow a run in his last two regular-season outings, working six innings against the Minnesota Twins on Sept. 23 and three against the Miami Marlins on Sept. 29.

Add it all up and that is 30 scoreless innings over five starts. The last time Verlander was scored upon was Sept. 18 when he gave up three runs in seven innings to the Seattle Mariners.

"Justin pitched great," Tigers catcher Alex Avila said. "He only made one mistake and it ended up being the difference because their pitchers didn't make any mistakes."